1-2-3-4 Cake

Wishing You all a Happy New Year ! May this year bring you happiness and peace !!

Last month,  my friend Shemeem asked me an easy cake recipe , as she was planning for a surprise birthday party for her nephew.. She said all recipes in my blog seem difficult for newbies , too much complicated !! Now, I had never thought of that.. a cake recipe from a beginner’s point of view..

I gave her the recipe for 1 2 3 4 cake – which is a favourite in the family  . I had made this for my hubby’s birthday ..  The cake  tastes good even without the icing.. Actually, this is a very frequent cake in my kitchen, perfect for an afternoon tea.

I had been wanting to try the pastel swirl effect for sometime.. hmm.. not quite perfect..  I think I need bit more practice..

Here’s Shemeem’s version  .. Loved the smurf icing.. Should try that out some day!!

The recipe is quite simple and the cake never fails !! The cake got its name from the ingredients’ quantity…

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CAKE

• Butter – 1 cup
• Powdered Sugar – 2 cups
• Flour – 3 cups
• Egg – 4
• Salt – ¼ tsp
• Baking powder – 3tsp
• Milk – 1cup
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
• Orange rind – 1 tsp

FOR SUGAR SYRUP

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tsp orange essence

FOR FROSTING

• Whipping cream – 2 cups

METHOD

TO PREPARE THE CAKE PAN

Butter a cake pan and sprinkle about 1 tbsp of flour.  Gently toss the pan so that all sides are coated with flour.

Note :

•  Eggs, butter and milk should be at room temperature
•  The bowls used for mixing and the egg beater should be dry.
•  Mix in flour and milk to the batter using a wooden spoon, do not use beater.

TO MAKE THE CAKE

1. Separate the egg yolks and whites.. be careful that the whites do not have even a tinge of yolk in it. ( There is a video at the end of the post, I found on You Tube , which shows how to separate the yolks and whites)
2. In  a deep bottomed bowl, beat the egg whites till they whip up. It will look like whipped cream. Keep it aside.
3. In another deep bottomed bowl, beat butter using egg beater for 2 minutes.
4. Add powdered sugar to the butter and beat well till it looks creamy.
5. Add the egg yolks one by one and beat well for around 10 minutes
6. In another bowl, sieve flour and baking powder.
7. Mix one third of the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture slowly using a wooden spoon.  Add one third cup of milk  and mix again. Repeat adding flour and milk alternately 2 more times.
8. Add the vanilla essence and orange rind
9. Add the egg white to the batter . Using a spoon slowly mix in the egg whites using the cut and fold method. (Video at the end of the post)
10. Pour the batter into the pan . The batter should fill only till 2/3 rd of the pan or you can use 2 pans. Bake at 180 degree for around 30 minutes . You can test if the cake is done, by inserting a tooth pick . If the tooth pick comes out clean ( without any crumbs on it) , then the cake can be taken out of the oven .
11. Let the cake cool to room temperature before applying icing

TO MAKE THE SYRUP:

Stir the sugar, water and essence in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer till the sugar has dissolved, and cool completely.

TO ASSEMBLE :

1.  When the cake is cooled, use a long serrated knife and cut off the top to make it straight. Slice the cake into 2 halves (if you have used a single cake pan).
2. Pour the sugar syrup on both halves to make it soft.
3.  On top of the first half spread the whipping cream or any filling. Place the second half , soaked side down, on top of the first.
4. Coat the top and sides of the cake with cream to give a thin uniform coating.
5. Keep in fridge till the icing sets. better to keep for atleast 3 to 4 hours.
6. Apply a thicker coating of cream on top and sides and decorate with chocolate curls or sprinkles.

Few links for details…

How to separate and fold egg whites   –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yie5V37E1w

How to beat egg whites –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpicWVE76l0

• 1234 cake
• cake
• cake recipe
• dessert
• vanilla cake